Tag Archives: politics

GUYANA Politics: That “Bloated” Electoral List – by Ralph Ramkarran 

04/14/2021 – 12:03 am
Ralph Ramkarran  – Conversation Tree Blog 

In 2010 I wrote an article on the overseas vote in which I argued that the Constitution of Guyana permitted all Guyanese citizens over the age of 18 to vote. Since there was no residence stipulation, Guyanese residing overseas have a right to vote. As readers would imagine, it elicited some controversy. I was a member of the leadership of the PPP at that time.

Mr. Robert Corbin, then leader of the PNCR, in a masterful display of irony, accused the PPP of seeking to re-introduce the overseas vote which, incidentally, the PNC had facilitated and grossly manipulated in the 1968 elections so much so that voters were registered as residing at the address of a horse pasture in the UK.        Continue reading →

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GUYANA: COVID-19: Nurses at three hospitals protest for better pay and working conditions

09/28/2020 – 12:20 am

Nurses’ industrial unrest breaking the law; President shrugs claims of unjustifiable spending

Nurses protesting in Georgetown

Demerara Waves-: By Denis Chabrol –  September 26, 2020

Over the past week, workers from the West Demerara Regional Hospital (WRDH), the Linden Hospital Complex (LHC) and the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) staged demonstrations to press their demands for frontline workers who are managing the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These demands range from better and more personal protective equipment to payment of overtime and risk allowances. Some have even threatened strike action.

Government says  nurses are violating the law governing essential unrest by taking industrial  unrest to press demands for more COVID-19 frontline allowances and other benefits.   

Continue reading →

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Guyana, ExxonMobil about to ink Payara oil well approval

09/26/2020 – 12:15 am

— Hefty fines for flaring, dumping untreated water

Demerara Waves: Denis Chabrol i–September 25, 2020

Guyana is on the verge of signing an agreement with ExxonMobil for its Payara Development Plan that would provide for hefty fines for flaring and the dumping of untreated water back into the sea, Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat said Friday.

He told News-Talk Radio Guyana 103.1 FM/Demerara Waves Online News that the actual fines were still under discussion and would be ironed out before the draft agreement is approved by Cabinet and make way for its signing.

“We have managed to negotiate on a number of environmental issues…..flaring will carry a fine. Water will have to be treated to international standard before dumping. I think we have a better agreement than Liza,” he said.          Continue reading →

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US Secretary of State arrives in Guyana amid tight security, continued skepticism

09/18/2020 – 12:33 am

Demerara Waves: Posted by: Denis Chabrol in – September 17, 2020

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo greets Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo. Partly hidden are President Irfaan Ali and the First Lady. Also in picture are Attorney General Anil Nandlall, Foreign Affairs Minister Hugh Todd and Minister of Governance and Parliamentary Affairs Gail Teixeira.

United States (US) Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Guyana late Thursday afternoon on a whirlwind four-nation  South American tour, under tight security and lingering scepticism about whether his visit is linked to plans for eventual regime change in Venezuela.            Continue reading →

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Guyana Elections: No Jagdeo-Granger talks despite GECOM’s efforts

08/02/2020 – 1:31 pm

Demerara Waves – by: Denis Chabrol –August 2, 2020

President David Granger and Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo will not be holding any talks on “the way forward” before the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) declares the results of the March 2, 2020 general elections, Jagdeo said.

GECOM is expected to meet again  at 2 PM Sunday.

Pro-APNU+AFC Elections Commissioner, Charles Corbin said he and his two other colleagues-Vincent Alexander and Desmond Trotman- told Sunday morning’s meeting of the Commission that “utilising that information (from the national vote recount) can cause a lot of ripples in the society” although GECOM has the power to use those numbers.          Continue reading →

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GUYANA: OPINION: Neither of the two major parties could govern effectively anymore – by GHK Lall

03/08/2020 – 3:56 pm

Posted in Demerara Waves – March 8, 2020 – by GHK Lall

In a flash we went from what was about disagreeing to what is now the disbelieving. I don’t care how we got there, the fact is that we are here, and it is inflaming, distressing, and devastating. I don’t like it; I don’t agree with it; I don’t think what developed on Thursday could stand. I wish I could take a different tact, but I just can’t.

From one corner, there are shouts about winning, yet there is no celebrating. If this is winning, then we are better off without it. If this is about respect for the whole process, then the bottom has just fallen out from this society; it has no moorings; it has just lost its visions of what lies ahead. Already I sense the stirrings of instability, of chronic wretchedness gathering for a full head of steam.      Continue reading →

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GECOM: “Bloated” final voters list of 661,928 ready – elections commissioner

01/29/2020 – 12:14 am
By: Denis Chabrol in  Demerara Waves – January 28, 2020

As the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) prepares to certify the final voters list, also called the Official List of Electors (OLE), containing 661,028 persons, at least one pro-coalition elections commissioner on Tuesday reiterated that the roll is bloated.

“So, clearly we are going forward with a bloated list because there is no circumstance under which a population of 750,000 plus with a school population and under-18 persons of approximately 200,000 can produce a voters list of over 661,000,” GECOM Commissioner Vincent Alexander told reporters.        Continue reading →

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Guyana Politics: Granger publicly declares Ramjattan prime ministerial running mate

01/09/2020 – 12:39 am
Posted by: Denis Chabrol in Demerara Waves – January 8, 2020

APNU+AFC prime ministerial candidate Khemraj Ramjattan, and presidential candidate, David Granger.

Presidential candidate for A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC), David Granger Wednesday night for the first time publicly announced that AFC Leader, Khemraj Ramjattan would be his prime ministerial running mate, even as he issued a stirring appeal for supporters to vote out the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) from controlling Region 5 (Mahaica-West Berbice).

“Khemraj and I have signed on the dotted line. Khemraj Ramjattan will be my prime minister,” he said to rousing applause at an APNU+AFC rally at Hopetown, West Berbice. APNU and AFC on December 24, 2019 signed a revised political agreement named the Cummingsburg Accord after protracted negotiations.        Continue reading →

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Guyana Elections 2020: the perfect vision of the usual right down the middle – By GHK Lall

01/07/2020 – 12:23 am

Posted by: Denis Chabrol in Demerara Waves  – January 6, 2020

 — by GHK Lall

On occasion, I am prompted to believe that I am the wisest one around here, and since that is far from accurate, I will settle for the sanest. For in the past few days of this New Year, this pivotal year of 2020, there came confirmation of things that needed no confirmation. None whatsoever, because as is so obvious, they are characterized by so much of what is of mere commonsense.

First, there was the coalition leadership entourage in full regalia at their kickoff proceedings. It was rousing, electrifying, and there was one more thing: there was a crowd of people: raucous, excited supporters, thousands of them, from what I read and heard. Did anybody, any Guyanese, require that kind of confirmation? I certainly didn’t, which is why I said from the get-go that this political contest has only one manifestation.          Continue reading →

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Guyana Politics: PPP’s Irfaan Ali says “I am not a puppet.” Really? Sez who? – By GHK Lall

01/05/2020 – 12:17 am

Posted by:  Demerara Waves – December 31, 2019

  — by GHK Lall

I refer to the headline article titled, “Ali maintains he’s no Jagdeo puppet” (SN December 31) See article below. I thought for a moment that Stabroek News mixed up its calendar in mistaking Old Year’s Day for All Fools’ Day. Oh well, here I go.

Everybody is due the benefit of the doubt. This is even when they themselves have mountains to scale in the credibility department. And such is the case with the opposition’s presidential candidate.

This should have been a crowning moment for him. It isn’t. This should have been an hour when well-wishing competitors, from within his own fold, put aside envy and malice, rise to the occasion, and surround him with their enthusiastic, at the very least, spirited energies. Rather frowningly and regrettably, little of that is present. The man is on his own only muddles things when he opens his mouth to make what he believes are profound statements. The trouble is that none are fooled (including the party’s own) and, thus, the only success registered is that he makes a bigger object of derision of himself. Continue reading →

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